DNC: Hey, sorry about attacking Ann Romney in that last ad

posted at 2:41 pm on July 19, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

It’s not exactly a state secret that Ann Romney works with horses as both a passion and physical therapy for her multiple sclerosis. Democrats attacked the Romneys for her dressage horses two months ago, and MSNBC host Larry O’Donnell tried it again last month, earning a sharp rebuke from Neil Cavuto. The DNC launched its own dressage attack this week with a new ad titled “Mitt Dancing Around The Issues Volume I” that featured Ann Romney’s horse:

The “issues,” by the way, are all about Mitt Romney’s money. Here are “issues” that the DNC apparentlytakes no interest: jobs, the economy, the national debt, the coming entitlement collapse, and so on. No, the only “issues” that interest Democrats are the issues of envy — Romney’s tax returns, his investments, and Ann Romney’s horse.

Last night, just hours after releasing this ad, the DNC had a change of heart … kind of:

It seemed like a good idea at the time, but now the Democratic National Committee is offering an apology of sorts to Ann Romney. …

Ann Romney, who trains with show horses as part of her therapy for multiple sclerosis, took offense in an interview with Robin Roberts on “Good Morning America,” and now the DNC is saying it will put out no more horse videos, and is expressing regret for offending Ann Romney.

“Our use of the Romneys’ dressage horse was not meant to offend Mrs. Romney in any way, and we regret it if it did,” DNC spokesman Brad Woodhouse told ABC News. “We were simply making a point about Governor Romney’s failure to give straight answers on a variety of issues in this race. We have no plans to invoke the horse any further to avoid misinterpretation.”

Yes, I’m sure that the DNC was so clueless about politics that it had no inkling that the horses belonged to Ann Romney as part of her therapy before they cut that ad, despite its repeated mention in the media. After all, they are clueless enough to think that in a sinking economy and historically high unemployment and underemployment that the “issues” about which voters care most is that Romney’s a rich dude with some horses. Looks like the Democratic Party and its leaders have some envy issues.

Blowback

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“Soros’ Open Society Institute spends between 400 and 500 million dollars annually. That’s twice Romney’s net worth in a single year being tossed around by the godfather of the Democratic Party”

Romney and the GOP need to skewer this concept that Democrats are the party of the people and the GOP are the party of the 1%. Where was all this wailing about rich Presidential candidates when John Kerry (worth $230 million compared to Romney’s $200 million) was the Democratic nominee?

To quote President Reagan- “I’ve never been able to understand why a Republican contributor is a ‘fat cat’ and a Democratic contributor of the same amount of money is a ‘public-spirited philanthropist’.”

It’s high time the GOP fought back against this ridiculous double-standard. Maybe Romney needs to start bringing up Kerry’s incredible wealth every time his own is mentioned? A few statements like this should do the trick- “I don’t seem to recall huge opposition from Democrats to Kerry’s huge fortune when he was their candidate. Is his fortune- which exceeds my own btw- somehow good while mine is bad? I find it fascinating that my wealth is being made such an issue when Nancy Pelosi is worth over a hundred million dollars and no such attacks are made against her. Heck, if she wants to use her wealth to help pay for the same government programs she champions she’s welcome- Pelosi and other wealthy Democrats want to forcibly tax the income of other Americans to pay for the government programs they are in favor of, at the same time as they protest about the wealthy not paying their ‘fair share’. If these multi-millionaires really feel so strongly that they aren’t paying enough to the government, I’d like to remind them that no one is stopping them from giving more of their money to the government. The government doesn’t own the wealth of the American citizen- and the idea that the government is entitled to take as much money from your wallet as it sees fit is against everything this nation stands for. If an American wants to use his money to invest in a business, let him. If an American wants to use their wealth to help pay down the deficit, let him. But that should be a choice for a free people to make for themselves, it’s not up to bureaucrats in Washington to decide how to spend larger and larger portions of the money you earn.” Repeat as needed.

“Our use of the Romneys’ dressage horse was not meant to offend Mrs. Romney in any way. We were trying to make her an object of derision in the eyes of our envious, small-minded voters, not trying to offend her. We couldn’t care less how she feels. Got that?”